Westpac IQ

Monday's re-issue edition: analysis and forecasts for this week's key releases.

Friday edition: analysis and forecasts for this week's key releases.

Amidst all the Trump-induced chaos and uncertainty, there are opportunities for other countries.

In this quarter's Sustainable Finance Market Update, we delve into the market movements in the volatile first months of 2025. We also provide updates on recent transactions, updates of the Loan Principles that govern sustainable finance loan markets, as well as in the industry, including economic research on Blue economy and a special report on how the Australian Carbon Market is evolving.

This month Westpac IQ’s ESG Impact explores measures to reduce embodied carbon from buildings and infrastructure, a new net-zero framework for the global shipping industry, an innovative recycling initiative for aluminium cans, plus the latest plan for soft plastics, and more.

The real-time payments revolution is moving at speed. Australian consumers – already world leaders in the uptake of digital payments – are following on strongly with enthusiastic adoption of real-time payments.

AUD/USD briefly climbed above 0.65 early last week as the sharp rally across Asian currencies extended, with Taiwan and Hong Kong's central banks intervening to stabilise their currencies. However, a seemingly more hawkish Fed, several stimulus measures introduced by the PBOC, a UK-US trade deal and the commencement of US-China talks saw a rejuvenation of broad USD strength, sending AUD/USD hurtling back below 0.64.

AUD/USD broke above 0.6450 last week on the back of cooling US-China trade tensions and a sharp rally in TWD/USD . This bullish momentum triggered broad rallies across the G10 and Asian currencies, which stabilised following a solid US Payrolls print for April. Anthony Albanese secured a second-term as Australia's PM in Saturday's Federal election.